Tuesday 04/22/14

Since the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development program (FMD) have been reauthorized at current levels through the new farm bill, the U.S. Grains Council reiterated the importance of the two programs for markets for U.S. agricultural products in an article on the council's website (http://bit.ly/…).

The MAP and FMD programs are utilized in a public-private partnership between the government and the council, along with other organizations working to develop market initiatives around the world.

One such example is the success of the council in 2012 in removing value added taxes and custom taxes on all feed imports in Algeria, including dried distillers grains with solubles and corn gluten feed.

The council used funds from USDA to educate commercial livestock feed companies and other large end-users in Algeria about DDGS and CGF in livestock rations. The council's efforts paid off when Algeria began importing their first-ever shipments of U.S. DDGS and CGF in September, 2013.

Funds from the MAP and FMD programs were also used by the council in 2013 for a program that fostered $6 million in corn sales to Colombia, which had previously been a difficult market for the U.S. The council also used such funds for a joint program with the United Sorghum Checkoff that resulted in the first-ever bulk shipment of U.S. sorghum to China.

Thu Jul 30, 2015 02:58 PM CDTModerate buyer support redeveloped through the ethanol complex as the main consideration of the market has moved beyond short-term supplies to recent support in the corn market.